Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, Tiger Shroff get FDA notices over Vimal Elaichi ad

Maharashtra FDA has issued show cause notices to Ajay Devgn, Shah Rukh Khan and Tiger Shroff over a Vimal Elaichi advertisement. The regulator says the campaign may amount to surrogate promotion of banned Vimal Pan Masala as its wider crackdown continues.

The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued show cause notices to Bollywood actors Ajay Devgn, Shah Rukh Khan and Tiger Shroff over their advertisement for Vimal Elaichi, alleging that it amounts to surrogate advertising for Vimal Pan Masala, a product prohibited in the state.

The Maharashtra FDA has stepped up action against the sale and promotion of tobacco and pan masala in the state, with the three actors now coming under the regulator’s scrutiny.

The notices, issued this week, ask Devgn, Khan and Shroff to explain their roles in the advertisement. The FDA said the advertisement creates an association with the Vimal Pan Masala brand and could amount to its indirect promotion under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

“Upon examination of the said advertisement, it prima facie appears that the advertisement promotes the Vimal brand, which is mainly associated with Pan Masala, a product prohibited for manufacture, storage, transportation, distribution and sale in the State of Maharashtra for a period of one year, with effect from the date specified in the Prohibition Order dated the 13th July, 2026, issued by the Commissioner of Food Safety, Maharashtra State, under Section 30(2)(a) of the FSS Act, 2006,” the notice states.

FDA EXAMINES SURROGATE ADVERTISING

The FDA said this marks the first time it has started examining surrogate advertising. In this case, the regulator said the advertisement’s presentation, dialogue, product name and market context raise a “serious question” over whether it constitutes indirect or surrogate promotion of a prohibited tobacco-related product.

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